Karnataka beat Maharashtra to claim their seventh Ranji title

Karnataka deservedly won their seventh Ranji Trophy title after beating Maharashtra by seven wickets on the fifth day of the final in Hyderabad on Sunday.

Chasing a victory target of 157 in little over two sessions, Karnataka got home with ease as they knocked off the runs in 40.5 overs.

Robin Uthappa (36), K.L. Rahul (29) and Amit Verma (38) made useful contributions as Karnataka exorcised the ghosts of their six-run loss in the 2009-10 final against Mumbai.

Members of the Karnataka team pose with the Ranji Trophy after beating Maharashtra in the final in Hyderabad

Young opener Lokesh Rahul was adjudged Man of the Match for his century in the first innings and Karnataka were richer by Rs 2 crore.

Maharashtra earned a purse of Rs 1 crore but couldn't break their more than seven-decade jinx of not being able to win the national title.

But one needs to laud Maharashtra for trying to make a match of it despite being down and out on the second day itself. Starting the final day at 272 for six, Maharashtra's tail wagged as they scored 366 with Shrikant Mundhe contributing 42.

A target of 157 was never going to be a tall order for Karnataka and their deep batting line-up. Although Maharashtra seamer Samad Fallah initially asked some questions, Uthappa hit a flurry of boundaries to help Karnataka stay firmly on course. His 47-ball innings had six boundaries and he was especially severe on left-arm spinner Akshay Darekar, repeatedly giving him the charge as the first-wicket partnership yielded 65 runs.

Rahul on the other hand, was playing second fiddle to Uthappa before he launched into one Chirag Khurana over in which he lifted him for consecutive sixes over long-on before cutting him past point for a boundary.

Manish Pandey (28 not out) and find of the season Karun Nair (20 not out) were at the crease when victory was secured with the latter hitting Khurana for a boundary and lofting him straight for a six to finish the match.

A pleased captain R. Vinay Kumar, who also completed 300 wickets in first-class cricket during the match, said that it was nothing compared to lifting the national title.

"Ranji Trophy is bigger than individual achievements (300 wickets). We all worked very hard for this, with the support staff and it's an amazing moment. We've been doing well for many years but couldn't win in 2009-10 and then made the quarter-finals but couldn't go further.

"So we wanted to win it this time and it's a superb team effort. Most of the players are around 25-26 years old and they all want to play for the country, they all aim big and are doing well. We had the ability to win and the belief and took it forward match by match as a positive unit. Lifting the Ranji Trophy is a great honour and I'd like to thank my teammates for that."

A normally reticent Rahul said he was happy to have saved his best for the last.

"I was hoping I would save my best for the end and that's what happened.

"All my teammates supported and pushed me to do well. It was always a dream to win the Ranji Trophy."

Maharashtra skipper Rohit Motwani, said that dropping four catches on the second day cost them dear.

"Catches win matches and that was important and we dropped a few but we came back quite well on the third day with seven wickets. If we had taken those catches, we would have given a better fight."